Despite help from costly technology and a new law enforcement database, weaknesses in the Homeland Security agency responsible for keeping terrorists, criminals and illicit goods from entering the U.S. continue to leave the nation dangerously vulnerable.

In 2006 alone several thousand inadmissible aliens and other violators entered the United States at air and land ports of entry and federal agents regularly waved vehicles and pedestrians through border inspection lanes without bothering to check them.

The alarming details of the ongoing mishaps at the Homeland Security agency in charge of protecting the nation’s borders, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were made public in a 17-page report released this week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

It concludes that, despite some improvements, serious national security weaknesses still plague the country’s border inspection system and those significant security risks and failures occur regularly at several key points of entry.

The weaknesses in the inspection procedures have already been exploited by alien smuggling organizations, according to GAO Homeland Security director Richard Stana, who says the sophisticated enterprises take advantage to smuggle a large number of illegal aliens into the U.S.